


Right Beside Me

by Zadien



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, Gajeel needs his mouth washed out with soap and water, Older sibling complex, Protective Gray
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 10:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14330025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zadien/pseuds/Zadien
Summary: Based after Ch 471 - With war looming on the horizon, Gray decides to take a quiet moment to give Gajeel some friendly advice, a warning just to be careful with Levy. But is that really necessary? After all, Gajeel isn't flirting with Levy.





	Right Beside Me

Gajeel was alone—sitting cross-legged on the grassy verge, overlooking the mountainous vista—when Gray found him. The moon was fat and white, rising steadily higher as the night crept along towards morning and their battle. As such, Gray figured he only had a small window of time to say what he needed. 

“Where’s Levy?”

“Piss break,” Gajeel replied, not looking away from the view as the faintest breeze toyed with his hair. He looked almost serene, a frightening concept. “You got something to say, Ice Freak?” 

Heaving a sigh, Gray shoved his hands into his pockets. “You need to stop flirting with Levy.” 

Because she was getting stars in her eyes every time Gajeel loomed over her and teased her and smiled at her, and Gray didn’t want to see her heart break. 

Gajeel twitched, his shoulders hunching in defence. “I’m not flirting with Levy.”

And because Gajeel was an obtuse moron and needed a good ass kicking. Not that Gray could do that because they were on the brink of war and they were Nakama. But it was so tempting. 

“Yes, you are.” 

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

With a scowl, because even a fight with Natsu had more progression than this conversation, he dropped down into a crouch and stared out at the view himself, struggling to compose his thoughts. “We go to battle tomorrow.”

“Gihihi, I’ll arrest everyone.”

“What if we lose?”

Gajeel levelled him with a dark look. “Shut your damn mouth.”

“We lose,” Gray pressed on, “and you only save one of us.” 

“That ain’t going to happen.”

“Okay,” Gray said, flicking a pebble off the edge. “But pretend something goes wrong, and you can only save one person in our group. Who would it be?”

Gajeel huffed out a breath. It fogged and drifted away on the cold air. “Lily.”

Gray blinked. Lily? His cat? Not that Lily wasn’t an important nakama but his cat?! Levy was in more trouble than he thought. “That’s cold, Gajeel.”

Gajeel flicked him an irritated glance. “Why?” 

“What about Levy?”

“What about her?” 

“You wouldn’t save her?”

“I wouldn’t need to.”

Gray stopped short. Did Gajeel just not understand the scenario? “Why not?”

“Because,” Gajeel said, with a sigh, “Levy’s short.”

“And?” 

Dropping his shoulders, Gajeel faced him as if by eye contact alone he could make Gray understand. “And, that means I can’t always find her, so Levy promised not to leave my side. If she’s beside me, and I’m okay, then I’d save Lily over your stupid asses. Then probably Juvia.”

“So Levy would be saved anyway?”

“Levy would never be in danger. She’d be right here.” He jerked a thumb to his left side. “Maybe here.” He pointed to the right. “But beside me, fighting just as hard.”

Gray absorbed that for a long moment, then pushed slowly to his feet. “You’re right, you’re not flirting with Levy.”

“Of course not.”

“You’re already in a relationship with her.” 

Stumbling away with a shake of his head, he made his way back to the camp. 

“Oi, what does that mean?” Gajeel demanded, standing up.

“Go the fuck to sleep,” Laxus roared back.

Off to the side—where she’d heard most of the conversation and felt her stomach drop as he said he’d save Lily—Levy pressed her fingers together in front of her lips to hide her smile before shuffling out to Gajeel’s side— _left—_ and smiled up at him. “Everything okay?” 

“Tch, yeah. Laxus needs his beauty sleep. Come on shrimp, we’ve got a big day tomorrow.” He paused in the midst of guiding her back to the camp to look at her in a way that made her heart beat quicken and thrum. “You stay beside me, tomorrow, got that? I know you can hold your own but I might need someone to have my back too.”

He wouldn’t but the fact that he trusted her to be able to fight at his side made her insides melt and she beamed up at him. “Right.” 


End file.
